Winding mechanism for spring-motors.



SAMUEL 'W. MEREDITH AND LEOPOLD BAUMANN, SR., OE PHILADELPHIA, IENNSYL- VANIA, AND JAMES BLACK, OF THOROFARE, J EBSEY. I

I WINDING- MECHANISM FOR SPRING-MOTORS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May *7, 191

Application filed February 15, 1917. Serial No. 148,875.

i To allwitom it may concern:

.Be it known that we, SAMUEL W. DITH, LEOPOLD BAUMANN Sn, and JAMES BLACK, citizens of the U nited States, and residents of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, and Thorofare, in the county of Gloucester and State of New Jersey, respectively, have invented new and useful improvements in Winding Mechanism for Spring-Motors, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to automatic musical instruments and has particular reference to talln'ng machines of the spring motor type.

The primary object of this invention is to provide a means whereby the spring of the motor will be automatically wound upon raising and lowering the lid of the casing, requiring no attention whatsoever of the operator for this purpose.

A further object of this invention is to provide means whereby upon the opening or closing of the casing lid, the motor will be wound for the succeeding record of maximum size irrespective of the size of the preceding record and the corresponding unwinding of the spring for it.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the-invention consists in the arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed, and while the inven-' 'tion is not restricted to the exact detalls of construction disclosed or suggested herein, still for the purpose of illustrating a practical embodiment thereof, reference is had to.

the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same parts in the several views, and in which,

Figure 1 is a central transverse section of .a talking machine illustrating one form of our improvement,

Fig. 2 is a vertical section at right angles to the'plane of'Fig. 1 and'taken on the line of Fig. 1, K e

Fig. '3 is an enlarged section of the frictional clutch and its associated elements.

shownin Fig.1,-

Fig; i-is an enlarged cross sectionalview of certain parts shown in Fig. 1, and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged cross sectional 16W of one of the arms shown in Fig. 2 and also shows aspring actuated pawl mounted on said arm.

Referring now more particularly to the I spring motor 14: and its associated elements is a bracket 13. The spring motor 14 is carried by the removable bed 13% as is obvious. This bracket is as shown substantially of right angle shape, one end thereof serving as a journal or supporting means for a rotatable shaft 14. Rotatably mounted near the end of the shaft-14 is a gear Wheel 15 which has formed integral therewith one portion of a frictional clutch Splinedto the shaft 14 as shown at 18 and in such a position that it will be held in frictional contact with the element 16 of the clutch, is the remaining portion 17 of the frictional clutch.

The shaft 14' is employed to wind the spring motor 14*. The portion 17 is held in engagement with the portion 16 by means of the coil spring 19. 'By means of this construction, it will be seen that should the spring motor be completely, wound when the lid 11 is in some position where easy access tothe turn table 25 is not obtainable, the

and its associated gear 15 with its clutch member 16 will necessarily be compelled to rotate This is allowed by means of the construction shown in Fig. 3. a. q I

Mounted within the cabinet and secured thereto by means of a plate 20 as shown in Fig. 1, is a short stub shaft 21. This stub mounted on the stub shaft 21 and are adapted to swing in a vertical plane, it being understood that these members have no permanent or fixed engagement with the stub shaft 21. Mounted on member 28 and in such a position that it will engage the teeth 24 on the ratchet 23, is a spring actuated pawl 30. This pawl is so arranged that when engaged in the teeth 24 of the ratchet 23, it will impart a rotary movement to the ratchet 23 upon the downward motion of the arms 25 and 28. Secured to the arm 29 and in a position similar to the pawl 30 is a spring actuated pawl 31 which is also adapted to engage in the teeth 24 of the ratchet 23 and impart a rotary movement to the ratchet 23 upon the upward movement of the arms 26 and 29. The positions which the arms 25 and 26, 28 and ing the lid the arms 25 and 26 will be moved accordingly and the spring actuated pawl 31 will engage in one of the teeth 24 of the ratchet The ratchet 23 being sebe rotated accordingly. Upon the rotation of the gear 15, the portions 16 and 17 of the frictional clutch will cause a rotary movement of the shaft because of its connection therewith by the slot and key 18. Upon the \rotation of the shafts 14 and 14 it is obvious that a winding of the spring motor will be accomplished. Upon the lowering of the lid 11, the spring actuated pawl 30 will'engage in one of the teeth 24' of the ratchet 23 and cause the winding of the spring motor in a manner similar to that described above.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, the. advantages of the construction and method of operation will be readily understood by those skilled in the art to which the invention appertains, and while we have described the principle of operation, together with the device which we now consider to' be the best embodiment thereof,

29 assume upon raising the lid are shown in /we desire to have it understood that the dedotted lines in Fig. 2.

In Fig. 4 is shown a detailed cross sectional view of the arms 28 and. 29 with the spring actuated pawl on arm 28 engaged in one of the teeth 24 of the ratchet 23. The means for holding the arms 28 and 29 in position upon the stub shaft 21 is also shown in this figure. Y

In Fig. 5 is shown a detailed cross sectional view of the arm 29 and its associated spring actuated pawl 31.

Secured to the front of the lid llof the cabinet is a handle 32 which is used to assist in raising and lowering the lid. The operation of this device is as follows The lid 11 ordinarily is positioned as shown in Fig. 2. In order to place a record upon the turn-table 25, it is obviously necessary that the lid be raised. After a record has been played a certain amount of tension in the spring motor has been used up and if a suflicient number of records have been played without a rewinding of the motor, the spring motor. will become entirely unwo,und. In ordinary use, a crank is employed to wind up the spring motor, the crank is generally mounted exteriorly of the cabinet and to rewind the motor by this crank necessitates a loss of time and energy. By our device the disadvantages of the crank are eliminated and it is only necessary to raise and lower the lid a couple of times to completely wind the motor. Upon rais-.

scribed, the combination with the cabinet of a sound reproducing machine, of a lid .pivoted thereto,-a removable bed secured to the upper portion of the cabinet, a spring motor carried by the bed, said spring motor being provided with a winding shaft, a bracket secured to said bed, a gear carried by said bracket, a friction clutch connecting said gear with the winding shaft of said spring motor, a second gear pivotally connected to the inner side of said cabinet and normally engaging the first named gear, the first named gear being free to disengage the second named gear upon the removal of said bed, and means for imparting rotary motion in a common direction to the last named gear upon the upward and downward swinging movement of said lid for winding the spring of said spring motor, said means comprising a ratchet-wheel centrally connected to the latter named gear, a pair of arms pivoted centrally to said ratchet-wheel andhaving their outer ends normally disposed upon opposite sides of a vertical plane passed longitudinally through the axis. of said ratchet, a second pair of arms connected to the first named pair of arms and to said .lid

22 the gear 15 willwhereby an oscillatory movement may be imparted to said arms upon the upward and downward movement of said lid, a spring pressed pawl carried by each of the arms of the first named pair, one of said pawls being arranged to engage the teeth of said ratchet.

wheel upon the upward movement of said lid While the other of said lugs isadapted to engage the teeth of said ratchet wheel upon the downward movement of said lid. 10

SAMUEL w. MEREDITH. I LEOPOLD BAUMANN, s3. JAMES BLACK. 

